createIt@ARTSgarage

createIt@ARTSgarage offers all educators - teaching artists, classroom teachers, museum educators, docents - an opportunity to nurture our own creativity through collaborative work. We apply accessARTS learning strategies using the fiber arts as our vehicle of expression - working with simple processes and materials on hand in Cameron’s studio. These peer-to-peer sessions are free of charge and are offered in a spirit of celebratory sharing. Each session is limited to 12 participants. createIt seminars are for educators only. These seminars are free, but you must pre-register in response to an invitation sent by email 3-4 weeks before a session. Join the createIt mailing list on our contact page.

2019 Seminars are scheduled for March 2, June 15 and September 28. Topics are under development.

2018 Seminars

Weave Together: Art and Agriculture on January 27 at Moonwater Farm. We met at this urban micro-farm in Compton, took a farm tour and created an installation from discarded textiles, wove with mohair curls from the farm's goats and constructed fragrant lavender wands from plants growing on the farm.

How String Changed the World on March 24 was inspired by Elizabeth Barber's seminal book Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years and a lesson from Wool Works: Teaching to the Standards with Fiber Arts. We discovered how the invention of string revolutionized early cultures!

Mending Fences on September 8. We experienced craftivism as we subverted fence as a barrier and instead viewed fence as an opportunity for thoughtful community engagement. We woven written affirmations and calls to action together with colorful weft elements into fence scaffolding and experienced a process that bound us together as we celebrated our common humanity.

Women's Woven Voices on November 18 with Brecia Kralovic-Logan. Woven Voices is a journey that starts with self-reflection and writing, and transforms into a woven tapestry, a visual storyboard of women’s lives from around the globe. The 3 elements of the Woven Voices project work together as tools to access, claim, and celebrate our power as individuals and together as a global community of women to follow.

2017

Indigo Magic on February 12 from 1-3:30 PM with artist and educator Carrie Burckle. We explored the lore and dipped some cloth into this ancient and storied blue dyestuff that is equal parts history, culture, art and science.

Material as Metaphor on June 17 from noon - 2:30 PM. We met at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles and used open-ended questioning to experience an exhibit that "underscores the contemporary transformation of the material definitions of fiber." Plus we made our own abstract work that further explored the idea of material as metaphor.

Worn Stories on September 10 from 1-3:30 PM explored the power of cloth and memory as we brought a worn cloth to the ARTSgarage table, shared its story and practiced mending techniques to add another chapter to the story it contains.

2016

Innerweaving on February 20 from 1-4 PM. We used weaving as a hands-on tool to explore personal development and conscious living.The creator of Innerweaving, Silvia Schroeder, guided us through this unique process and helped us transform our thoughts into fiber art! Silvia earned her Psychosocial Counseling degree in Austria/Vienna and an Educator’s degree in Experiential Nature Craft in Switzerland, and now helps people untangle their potential in Sebastopol, CA.

Felt It Full It on May 7 from 1-3:30 PM. In teams of two, we used a partner’s hand as a sculptural form - wrapped that hand with wool roving and yarns, threw in bits of contrasting threads and worked the wool until it shifted and shrank into the desired form. The form was purely sculptural or a fingerless glove, a soap mitt, hand puppet... whatever came to mind!

Beautiful Landscape Wake Unto Me on September 11 from 1-3:30 PM. L.A. artist-teacher Jamia Weir recaptured parts her recent journey to Italy as a Fund for Teachers fellow. Jamia wove stories and photographs in with her own artwork inspired by the beautiful landscapes and architecture in Umbria, “the green heart of Italy.” Each of us then creatively interpreted our own favorite landscape or cityscape by layering and manipulating textured and fibrous materials.

Open Studo and Open Houseon November 12 from 1-4 PM. We enjoyed refreshments and lively conversation while making an ornament inspired by fabric fans designed by Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably for the Victoria and Albert Museum Christmas tree!

2015

Artful Vessels on Sunday, March 15th from 1-3:30 PM. Based on requests from many ARTSgarage participants, we made colorful string and paper vessels that could be enclosed containers or open baskets, depending on your preference.

Fiber Tiles on Sunday, June 7th from 1-3:30 PM. Inspired by traditional Islamic designs, we constructed colorful tiles with paper, oil pastels and yarns, and played around with the different patterns they create.

Diverted Destruction 8 on Saturday, August 1 from 1-3:30 PM. We met at the Loft at Liz's at 453 South La Brea, around the corner from ARTSgarage and viewed works featuring the reinterpretation by artists of salvaged fabrics collected and rescued by the gallery. We used open-ended questions to explore what was going on in these "up cycled" artworks, and made our own mixed media piece from rescued materials.

Wrap It Up on Sunday, November 8, 2015 from 1-3:30 PM. Inspired by the classic book on Japanese packaging How to Wrap Five Eggs, we experimented with materials and wrapping techniques to create our own interpretations of traditional Japanese packaging "works of art...that often had more charm and value than the actual content of the packages."

2014

Sock It to Me! on March 16. We created a sock puppet with a distinctive personality, beginning with a sample sock from Regia - the renowned sock yarn company - and then embellished it from the ARTSgarage stash of yarns, buttons, felt and more!

Cloth from the Silk Road on August 24. Inspired by the Natural History Museum's exhibit Traveling the Silk Road:Ancient Pathway to the Modern World and Cameron's recent trip to the oasis communities around the Taklimakan desert in Central Asia, we created a simple version of Aidelaixi silk, a traditional warp dyed cloth from the region.

Why Knot? on November 2. Why Knot took its name from a recent book by high-wire artist Philippe Petit. We explored the fascinating world of knots and their central place in human civilization, made some basic knots and then moved to termination knots, binding knots and more!

2013

Felt It! on March 24th. With teaching artist Carrie Burckle, we launched the third season of createIt@ARTSgarage. From 1-3:30 PM, we massaged, mashed and manipulated wool fibers exploring a technique from pre-history used to make everything from yurts and saddles to high fashion and contemporary art.

A Textile Sandwich on June 9. Quilting with a twist. We layered and joined together a variety of materials in a free-form free-style exploration of the ancient technique of quilting.

Social Fabric on August 25. Textiles as exploration of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. We discovered how a bag made with simple fiber techniques addressed multiple levels of human needs - from basic survival to self-actualization. A presentation with Professor of Sociology and accomplished weaver Sally Raskoff .

Words About Color on November 17. Poetry was used to fuel our creative process. We listened to delightful poems about color and selected a "poetry shard" that inspired a collage, notecard or bookmark, discovered how a poem can inspire our color choices, and how a beautiful pile of yarns and paper scraps can bring out the poet in each of us.

2012

Spin Me a Yarn on March 18th. This workshop featured simple spinning with Anna Zinsmeister and fiber storytelling with Audrey Kopp and Rahab Mitchell.

Animal Vegetable Mineral on May 20th. We asked the question "What IS fiber, anyway?" We examined types of fibers and their properties -and made simple textiles that exploited the different characteristics of animal, vegetable and mineral fibers.

Yarn Bombing 101 on July 15th. Exploring the idea of "street art" with fiber. Unlike the use of spray-cans, wielding yarn and fiber is a "warm and fuzzy" way to create the latest in urban grafitti. We surfed the web to view this social phenomenon as others do it, and then yarn bombed the yard at ARTSgarage in preparation for the HGA Convergence 2012 tour that come through the next morning.

Open Studio on November 18th. The creation of simple holiday projects of your choice. Participants were encouraged to respond to the materials at hand and see where it took them! New books from the library@ARTSgarage were available to review, and in the spirit of the season, participants filled a gift bag with fiber goodies for use in their classes.

2011

How to Be An Explorer of the World on February 27th. We focused on inventive explorations from HOW TO BE AN EXPLORER OF THE WORLD by Keri Smith. "You are an explorer. Your mission is to document and observe the world around you as if you've never seen it before... notice patterns. ... focus on one thing at a time...creativity arises from our ability to see things from many different angles..." We dove into Exploration 7 World of Color (using yarns instead of paint chips) and Exploration 29 Tactile Boards, then created a small weaving inspired by our explorations.

The Ties that Bind on May 15th. This was for educators of all stripes. We began by sharing expressions from across the globe that referenced textiles such as tied up in knots, hanging by a thread, on tenter hooks, and coming apart at the seams; as well as lesser-known expressions translated from Yiddish, Swedish, Danish, French, Belgian and Dzongkha. We moved from textile metaphor to textile process with two quick techniques - finger crochet and twisting - and created a variety of "ties that bind" inspired by textile expressions. We even made a tassel or two.

Talking Trash on August 28th. Led by artist Julie Kornblum, we focused on simple coiled basketry using recycled materials. We all made fun coiled baskets with recycled "stuff," while learning a little history, looking at examples of baskets using traditional and non-traditional materials, and continuing with a brief report on the latest findings of the 5 Gyres Project.

Children, Play and Yarn on December 4th. Led by Carollee Howes, Developmental Psychologist at UCLA. Carollee, herself a weaver, explored the type of weaving mastered at an early age by young children in Mexico, Peru and Central America and discussed teacher-guided play in child care, preschool and kindergarten classrooms.